by Barry Lenson
We would like to start today’s composer profile with a short quiz. Ready? Please put on your thinking cap.
Question One: Which composer wrote the Water Music?
Question Two: Which composer wrote the Saint Matthew Passion?
Question Three: Which composer wrote an oratorio called Messiah?
Question Four: Which composer wrote more than a dozen suites for harpsichord?
And The Answer Is . . .
The answer to all four of those questions is Georg Philipp Telemann, one of the most prolific and accomplished of all German baroque composers. Like his compatriots J.S. Bach (1685-1750) and Georg Frideric Handel (1685-1759), he wrote music for all occasions and in many genres. And like those two other musical giants, he wrote works that show all the hallmarks of a brilliant musical imagination, supreme craftsmanship, and the ability to write memorable melodies. He even wrote more than 30 operas, almost as many as Handel’s 42 (by most counts).
Why is Telemann often an afterthought – the baroque composer we think about only after considering Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi? There is no reason we can think of.
Let’s learn more about him.
Who Was Georg Philipp Telemann?
Born in Magdeburg, Georg Philipp Telemann was a prodigy who composed operas and keyboard music before he was 12 years old. Despite his evident musical potential, his parents opposed his intentions to be a musician and insisted that he study law at the University of Leipzig.
Like Johann Sebastian Bach, Telemann earned his living as a church musician and organist. And like Bach, Telemann composed a steady string of cantatas to be performed on Sundays in the many churches where he was employed. He held church positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach and Frankfurt before he took his final and greatest church job in Hamburg, where he became the director of music at no fewer than five churches.
Happy in Music, Unhappy in Love
It is surprising that a steady and productive German gentleman like Telemann had a tumultuous love life. His first wife, Amalie, died in 1711, fewer than two years after their marriage. Only a few years later he married Maria Catharina, a compulsive gambler who left him in 1736 and left him the job of mopping up the immense debts she had accrued.
But all that domestic drama did not keep Telemann from producing a steady stream of magnificent music.
Notable Works of Telemann You Can Listen to on Classical Archives*
Orchestral Works and Concertos. . .
Overture: La Musette, suite for strings and continuo in G-
Cantatas and Oratorios . . .
Messiah (oratorio)
Meine Seele erhebt den Herrn (cantata for soprano and orchestra)
Keyboard Works . . .
Concerto da chiesa in G for organ
Chamber Music . . .
Quartet in D- for Flute, Violin, Viola and Continuo
Operas . . .
Flavius Bertaridus, König der Longobarden
* Please note that in order to listen, you must be a member of Classical Archives. If you are not yet a member, we invite you to join now. Free 14-day trial memberships are now available.
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